Santiago. The last webinar to which Pablo Junceda, general director of Sabadell Gallego and deputy general director of Banco Sabadell, invited the business community that is a client of the financial company, entitled ‘Protect yourself against defaults: Credit insurance as a tool for growth’. Organized by the entity and Solunion – a leader in credit insurance and which is made up of Mapfre and Euler Hermes, the main international risk manager -, it was intended to bring these products, shields closer to sales operations that can end badly (not collected) at all the Galician business community.
As master of ceremonies, Arancha Andrés Alonso, territorial director of Insurance at Banco Sabadell, gave way to the directors of Solunion Elena Barrientos (Central Zone) and Jorge Rodríguez Correa (Northwest Zone), in addition to the director of Risks of the territorial from the bank, Cayetana Rodríguez.
Arancha Andrés Alonso pointed out that “all companies, whatever their size, can and should protect themselves against commercial insolvency, against the defaults of their clients. It is not only needed by large companies or those that export. It can happen to anyone”. If they shield their facilities with multi-risk policies or take out civil liability insurance, it is strange that “they do not stop to think about protecting the most important item on their balance sheet, which is that of customers, accounts receivable”, when “the probability that a client does not pay us is infinitely higher than suffering any other type of claim ”.
By Solunion, Elena Barrientos agreed when stating that “most companies in Spain sell on credit, and all, large or small, even self-employed, should consider having a credit insurance that protects their activity and eliminates uncertainty, much more in times of crisis like the one we are having to live in ”, in which many businesses have had to readjust. “The usual thing in most companies is to deliver the fruit of their investment and effort without any type of payment guarantee. And without security, because many times companies do not know the client, when they work in other countries ”, he claimed.
Together with Jorge Rodríguez Correa, head of Solunion in Galicia, they detailed how credit insurance offers three essential services. The first, financial information and payment behavior of its portfolio of current and potential clients, which helps to “sell safely and grow”; the second, if after an operation the client does not pay, “we offer the recovery of all debts”, they are in charge of convince to the defaulter; and thirdly, if everything fails and it is impossible to recover that money, “the credit company compensates in the percentage contracted in the policy.”
As if that were not enough, policyholders indicate on their invoice with a stamp that their operations are guaranteed with credit insurance, which is very useful: “they do it because they are always paid before those that are not.” This is because Solunion communicates any incident on a global scale to all its policyholders, to warn them of possible problems, which can remove the unpayer from the market or leave the defaulter without suppliers.
Rodríguez Correa addressed the specific characteristics of this crisis, different from all the previous ones, and made a tour of how it has affected the different sectors, starting with those linked to tourism, hospitality and commerce, with the pharmaceutical, chemical and agri-food sectors in the opposite extreme, already at pre-pandemic levels.
Both this professional and Barrientos also urged to insure the risk with those companies that are considered good clients, because “we never know where the hare is going to jump.” Arancha Andrés agreed, claiming that “they are the ones that can do us the most harm.”
For her part, Cayetana Rodríguez contributed optimism: “If everything goes well with the vaccines, the way out of the crisis will be very strong”, and we must consider “doing it right and not foolishly and madly.” “We are going to take off quickly – he said – and be prepared not to have risks and to finance a lot of working capital”. Credit insurance is “positive for the image of the employer, to finance the collection rights”, improves the documentary control of the company, its information on activity, customers and business and, by helping to avoid raising its financial debt and position in the Central Risk Information Center of the Bank of Spain (CIRBE) allows greater financing and in better conditions. JC
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